Scott Hamilton discusses the two U.S. ice dancing teams he thinks have a shot at a medal: Alex and Maia Shibutani and Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue.

(Published Monday, Feb. 19, 2018)

Top Three U.S. Ice Dance Teams Advance

All three American teams are in position to contend for a medal in ice dance following the short dance portion of the competition Monday at Gangneung Ice Arena. The favorites entering the competition also asserted themselves, with Canada’s Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir posting a world record-score for short dance.

The reigning United States champions, Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue, are in third place with a score of 77.75, two-hundredths of a point ahead of the brother-sister pair of Maia and Alex Shibutani. Madison Chock and Evan Bates are seventh, after receiving a season-high score of 75.45.

Virtue and Moir, who lead the field with 83.67 points, were Team Canada’s flag bearers at the opening ceremony and have a chance to become the most decorated figure skaters in Olympic history. A trip to the podium in Pyeongchang would net them their fifth medal between ice dance and the team figure skating event. The short dance will be followed by the free dance Tuesday (Monday night in the United States).

Team USA’s Maddie Bowman begins her quest to repeat her Sochi golden run in the women’s freestyle skiing halfpipe with qualifying runs on Monday (Sunday night in the U.S.). She will lead a large contingent of U.S. athletes who hope to advance to the third and final run the next day.

Bowman’s teammates include top contenders Devin Logan, who won silver in Sochi for slopestyle, and Brita Sigourney, who finished sixth in the halfpipe in Sochi. Sigourney is the first women to land a 1080 in a competition halfpipe run, which she did during the 2012 X Games in Aspen.

But Team USA will have tough competition from Canada’s Cassie Sharpe, a standout for her bold tricks, and France’s Marie Martinod, who took silver in Sochi.

Watch as part of NBC 6’s primetime coverage beginning at 8 p.m. ET Sunday or on digital platforms here.

The United States women’s hockey team advanced to the gold medal game for a third straight Olympics after beating Finland 5-0 in the semifinal Monday (Sunday night in the U.S.).

Gigi Marvin opened the scoring just 2:25 into the opening period. Dani Cameranesi extended the USA’s advantage with two goals and an assist. Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and Hilary Knight had a goal apiece as they turned a 5-on-3 into two goals 34 seconds apart in the second.

Maddie Rooney made 14 saves for the shutout.

The Americans will play the winner of the other semifinal between Canada and the Russians. That game is Monday night (Monday morning in the U.S.)

Canada’s Justin Kripps and Germany’s Francesco Friedrich entered the Olympics as the top two ranked bobsled drivers in the world. After the 2-man event, the debate over who is better remains unsettled.

Kripps and Friedrich finished in a dead tie, both sleds completing the four heats in 3:16.86. Their teams will share the gold medal, while Latvia took the bronze.

The tie capped a thrilling bobsled event, where the top five teams entered the final heat separated by just .12 seconds. America, though, was nowhere near that top five.

U.S. Bobsled is still coping with the loss of Steve Holcomb, who died in May. Holcomb won the bronze in Sochi, becoming the first American to win a bobsled medal in 62 years. Without him, the Americans have struggled.

Justin Olsen and Evan Weinstock led the Americans with a 14th place finish, finishing more than a second and a half behind the Germans and Canadians. Nick Cunningham and Hakeem Abdul-Saboor finished 21st for the U.S., and Codie Bascue and Sam McGuffie finished 25th.

Bobsledder Justin Olsen.
Photo credit: Getty Images

Three American Snowboarders Advance Through Qualifying Round in Women’s Big Air

Team USA members Jamie Anderson, Julia Marino and Jessika Jenson all survived the women’s big air qualification round Monday (Sunday night in the U.S.). Anderson rebounded with a strong second run and stumbling during her first attempt. Marino, 20, made her Pyeongchang debut during the women’s slopestyle, finishing 11th.

They’ll be strong medal contenders in the big air, but they’ll have to catch Austrian Anna Gasser, who’s known for pulling off tricky technical moves and who finished first in the qualifying round.

The women’s qualifying round was the debut of big air in the Olympics. It’s as much a spectacle as it is a sport — competitors perform complex moves down a hill after launching off large jumps, aiming for height, distance, style and a clean landing. The scores are out of 100 and the top scorers will go for gold Friday (Thursday night in the U.S.).

Photo credit: Mitchell Haaseth/NBC

Florida's Erin Jackson Makes Olympic Debut, Brittany Bowe Hits Ice

Ocala's Erin Jackson may have been sick at the start of the Winter Olympics, but the determined speed skater -- the first black woman to ever make the U.S. speed skating team -- took to the ice in the 500m Sunday, finishing in 39.2 seconds and coming in 24th. Watch her compete against Norway's Isa Njatun here.

Fellow Floridian and speed skater Brittany Bowe was bounced out off the podium during the 1000m and 1500m, and came up just short again, coming in fifth in the 500m.